At first I thought it was going to be difficult to mix patterned papers because I have switched to buying packs because they are so much easier to coordinate. But what do you know…I have some really old paper! This challenge was a good thing because these papers would normally be my last resort. So single sheets here I come and this is what I came up with. The best way for me to mix pattern papers is to choose one multi-colored paper as a starting point, then find mono-toned or less busy papers to go with it. You can see this from my layout. I have the striped paper and polka dot papers (mostly covered) as my busy, multi-colored sheets. Then I added the pink flowered sheet, brown flowered sheet, green polka dots, and pink/green flowered sheet. I have a large supply of Making Memories alphabet rubons making those the first that came to mind. Even though I have a large stash, I do use them often. They are good quality and make a quick way to add a title, similar to alphabet stickers but with more letters to use.

Now I will share the funny part of doing this layout. I was as far as the pictures on the paper, just had to add a title and embellishments, when I realized that these are Christmas pictures – not birthday. I certainly wasn’t going to start over at that point. I decided that I did use pink and green so that’s close enough to Christmas colors. I was just focused on how well the paper matched her outfit and I guess that’s what happens when your child has a birthday so close to Christmas.

What will you create? Go to Scrap Our Stash to submit your own layout. You have until May 29th.

]]>Update 1/29/13: I am disappointed that Crafter Mania decided to not use my book as planned and never informed me. I spent many hours on this project and was not reimbursed as per our agreement. I was also looking forward to using my smashbook this year and still have not received it back as promised. I will not do business with them again and do not recommend them.

Update 2/15/13: Received my smashbook.

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I want to give a big shout out and thank you to Crafter Mania and EK Success for sending me this package to try out. Its a SMASHBOOK and a bunch of coordinating embellishments that go great together.

Some pretty awesome stuff, huh!?!

I had a lot of fun with this book. I used it to create a motivational To-Do 2013 Book. It contains ideas and goals for my scrapbooking, weight loss, family, and home life. I will be using the stamper to date things as they are completed throughout the year. There are SO many pages in this book and so many things that you can do with it! I think I will get another one and just SMASH in all the stuff that I have in one of my file drawers….ticket stubs, kid’s programs, etc. that didn’t make it in my scrapbooks or that I don’t have pictures for. It will be a great way to get it done.

I will share the entire book with you but I’m going to break it down into multiple posts because it is so awesomely huge! I will also say that this is the first Christmas gift I have done this year and it is a gift to myself! How awesome is that!

Here we go! Part 1 – Scrapbooking & Me Time.

I’ll start with the front cover which has a beautiful embossed design. Of course, I had to personalize mine a bit by adding some color and bling. I used colored pencils and Stickles. You could use anything you have on hand in your stash (markers, glitter glue, rhinestones, etc.)

Before:

After:

This is the inside cover. It’s pretty bare now and I like it that way but may add more to it throughout the year.

A cool first page and I’ve left it as is (unless you can notice where my toddler got a hold of my pen)

My reason for creating the book and motivational quotes. My favorite is: “Either you run the day or the day runs you.” (Jim Bohm) This is so true!

Some of my scrapbooking goals (room for more)

Scrapbooking and craft projects (I am always adding to this list)

Ways I like to spend time relaxing.

Quotes on making time for me.

Motivational quotes.

Be sure to come back and see the rest of my book over the next couple days.

]]>When I found out the theme for the August Scrap Our Stash Challenge was to “re-do” something I thought I was in trouble. I am not one to go back and redo any of my layouts. I’m just glad they got done in the first place! Plus, it’s interesting to see how my scrapping style has changed over the years. It’s also funny to hear compliments for some of the layouts that I don’t really care for; we all have different tastes. So back to the challenge….my second child turned 10 this year and this ended up to be the perfect opportunity to get something completed in a timely manner. For my first, I had created a 10-Years of You album that featured a photo of her each of her 10 years. So I decided to “redo” that same project for my second 10-year-old. Let me tell you it was much easier the second time around! I simply used the same album and layouts, choosing different papers and embellishments to suit a different personality. The only trouble I had was that I stamped all the numbers and did the album backwards and when it came to doing the title it did not match my front cover paper. Not a big deal to switch it up and I even used a number 3 in place of a the letter E. The cover paper did just happen to have a nice lace/ribbon border that looked great on the front cover. Here is the outcome:

I am very pleased with this layout. I used the Diecuts with a View paper from a stack that I bought online and I didn’t like it as well when I got it so it became buried in my stash. It was the perfect colors for these layouts and I don’t think I noticed before that it had a sheen shine that is very pretty. The pearls I used come in strips and I used them to create my own flourishes and used the remaining pearls as centers for the flowers. I’ll have a layout tomorrow using ScrapSketch #3.

I started these layouts before Christmas using the Evensong Workshop on the Go guides. Then I made more pages with the paper that was left. Today I finished them up by adding pictures, journaling, and embellishments. I had to take the Santa and reindeer sticker apart to make it fit the way I wanted. It originally came to be adhered up/down the long way. I wanted mine to go across the top of the page. In order to make it work I took the middle reindeer off the reins and turned it around. I cut the reins in the middle because they were too long and hid the seam under the middle reindeer. It worked great. The only thing I regret is not taking the entire sticker off the backing. You can see how the middle reindeer doesn’t have the transparent sticker behind it. I just added my own adhesive and I think it looks much nicer. I didn’t notice it until it was already down and then there was no way it was going to come off nicely so it’s staying where it is and I’m calling it done.
Something I like to do is try to use up an entire paper packet. I did that with the Evensong paper after I made my layouts by making the cards HERE. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment to use it all up and it is also amazing just how much you can get out of one paper pack.
These are my first layouts of the year so I am starting at 5 of 210 for 2010!

It was a gorgeous day for this parade but as you can see the girls were wearing their coats. That’s because it was a wet parade with a lot of water being sprayed out into the crowd! I had so many great pictures from this parade so I made a 3-page layout. The third page will follow the first two when I put them in my book. The Mickey hands were vellum stickers which I put on white cardstock, cut out, and added to my layout with pop-up dots.

This was a fun layout and the colors worked well together. I kinda wish I had made the rhinestone circle smaller but I like the pattern. I used a Mini Dots All Around template by TheCraftersWorkshop.com. I love this little template for making circles with eyelets, brads, buttons, bling, etc. Layout was based on Scrap Sketch #120.

Well, it was back to scrapbooking today. This picture was taken at Ariel’s Grotto in Disneyland last month. We all had a great time. It is spendy but I would recommend it. Different princesses come to each table to chat, sign autographs, and take pictures. The food was quite good as well. Our favorite was probably the dessert. I enjoyed the healthy choices and fresh produce (sure beats $6 hotdogs!). Definately get priority seating.

For this layout I used the sketch below as a guide. The 3D stickers were added on top of other images on the paper to add more dimension. I don’t know how to explain these Disney stickers by EK Success but you can see that they don’t photograph well due to their shine. I found them in the clearance section today at Target! I figured this would be a good way to use a bunch of my flowers – I love them and just can’t get enough! Good thing I have girls! My first choice for the centers would have been brads but this was also a way to use up some of the many eyelets that I’ve been collecting.

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The cutterpede by EK Success cuts up to 13″ x 15″ when the arm folds out to full extension. The arm can also be folded in half for easy 6″ cuts and easy 2″ cuts can be made when the arm is folded in. The cutterpede gives clean, straight cuts. The blade can be replace and is long-lasting. Although the cutting mat needs to be replaced fairly often it is inexpensive because it can be rotated and used 4 different ways and the mats are purchased in 2-packs. I would not recommend using this cutter regularly for photos or heavyweight paper because it wears down the mats too fast. This was my favorite cutter for a long time because of the clean, straight cutting and because it does not take up much room on my desk. The arm does not match the cutter because it broke and when I requested a replacement, this is the one that was sent. I originally purchased a pink Cutterpede from my LSS and it was damaged. They would not replace it because it came as a package and they didn’t want to send everything back and would only replace the cutter but did not have pink except the ones in the package set. Bummer for me because that was one of the reasons I bought it (I loved the pink). So in the end it’s kind of funny that I ended up with a pink arm.

Sanding chipboard is a fun, easy, and fool-proof technique. These chipboard letters by Pressed Petals came pre-colored and included a sanding stick. All I had to do was rub the stick back and forth around the edges of the letters to remove some of the pink color and reveal the white. It’s a nice distressed look.

The Magic Kingdom at WDW is truly a magical place and I wanted to show that through my layout. Supplies used: double-sided Disney papers by EK Success, diecut from an online swap, CTMH Magic stamp set, liquid glass, and Martha Stewart florentine gold glitter.